In order to increase the number of new customers who buy a particular product, many retail outlets, and grocery stores in particular, set up a database of certain items that it sells and links each of these primary items to a secondary item that is different from the item to which it is linked for the purpose of promoting the secondary item. As a customer is checking out and each item is scanned at the checkout, the items are monitored and simultaneously compared to the items in the database to determine whether any of the items are associated with a secondary item. If an item is associated with a secondary item, a coupon for the secondary item is printed out for the customer to use at a later date.
This system enables the store to provide to a customer, who may not normally purchase the secondary item, an incentive for purchasing the secondary item, simply because the customer purchased the particular item that was linked to the secondary item. The system thus potentially creates a new customer for the secondary item.
While this system is in use in the so-called “brick and mortar” outlets, there is no such system that enables an online retail store to provide coupons to customers for items in this manner. Furthermore, in the above-described system, the promotions are available only within each store or store chain where the promotion has been set up. A promotion cannot be set up by a manufacturer or wholesaler for an item at a central location that is available to a large number of retail outlets for access to the promotions and for redemption of the coupons. There is also no means for managing the coupons online and for monitoring the success of the coupons.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a method of and system for managing promotions for items offered for sale at online retail outlets, wherein a manufacturer or retailer has access to its promotions to authorize the promotions, obtain an accounting for the promotions and to obtain a report of the success of the promotions.
This invention relates to a method of and system for distributing and redeeming electronic coupons or “tokens” in a computer network environment and more specifically to a method and system for distributing, in advance of a request for information for which the “token” has relevance which may be redeemed.
With the rapid growth of computer networking and requests for information from one computer to the next e.g. the Internet, it has become common practice for a provider of information (a “Server”) to provide each specific requester of information (a “Client”), with an electronic “token” (commonly referred to as a “Cookie”) for the purpose of “recognizing” the client and/or providing some pre-determined and pre-programmed level of customization at the discretion of the information provider.
Thus, in the prior art, the first time a client makes an electronic request for information from the server, the server delivers the requested information and, in addition, an electronic “token” or Cookie that allows the “server” to recognize the “client” and is able to customize the information provided in subsequent requests. The Cookie can also be used to identify a specific client or set of clients to control access to specific information or entry points of the server's private network.
In ordinary commerce, information providers such as newspapers and magazines are used to attract or identify specific market segments of consumers in order to permit vendors to target consumers in those specific market segments with advertising. This frequently includes the use of coupons which may be redeemed by consumers for discounts on product purchases and for other benefits. Typically, the source of the coupon is either the vendor's own product or publication or that of a distributor or other information provider associated with the vendor. One of the benefits of coupons is that they provide the vendor with some measure of the effectiveness of their advertising by using coupons that are unique to each source of advertising. However, the tracking of paper coupons is a very time consuming and imprecise process.
With the advance of the Internet, consumers can download and print out coupons from many online sources. Consumers can take these coupons to their local store to redeem them or return them to their source along with a proof of purchase in order to receive a refund by mail. These methods are both inconvenient and time consuming for the consumer. Currently, there is no effective way to distribute and redeem coupons online.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved method and system for distributing and redeeming coupons in a network environment.